The Elusive Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

The Whirlpool Galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Plough) is more or less at zenith (straight up!) My computerised mount won't cope with this as it is outside it's limits for tracking so I have tried to find this elusive galaxy with my Skywatcher 130M.

I know where to look, but I just can't find it! If I could at least see a fuzzy object, I could point the camera and take some long exposure images and maybe see something.

So...I called on the BRT to try to take an image for me...and here it is!

This would be a super object to capture with my own equipment...maybe one day?

Here are the settings of the BRT in Tenerife:

Request ID
49535
Job ID
35899
Object Type
MESSIER
Object ID
51
Object Name
The Whirlpool Galaxy
Exposure Time
120000 ms
Filter Type
Colour
Dark frame
Instant
Site Name
Tenerife
Telescope Type Name
Galaxy
Telescope Name
Galaxy Camera
Request Time
22:59 on Friday 25 May 2007 (21:59:51 UTC)
Completion Time
04:22 on Monday 28 May 2007 (03:22:33 UTC)
Comments
Whirlpool Galaxy
Status
Complete

Dawn Mission to the Asteroid Belt!

All Aboard the Dawn Spacecraft!

During the “Send Your Name to the Asteroid Belt” campaign, at NASA's JPL site:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.asp

more than 360,000 people signed up to participate in a virtual voyage to the asteroid belt. The computer chip holding all the participants’ names has now been installed on the Dawn spacecraft in preparation for flight in June.

I managed to add most of my family names to the 'chip' for it's journey to Vesta and Ceres and who knows beyond...

I think that it is amazing that we are being digitally transported to Deep Space and to Mars! Even if the spacecraft doesn't make it that 'chip' will float around space until eternity...makes you think a bit doesn't it!!

The Vesta Asteroid can be be seen at the moment near to Jupiter with binoculars but gets brighter in about a weeks time. The surface of Vesta has a high reflective surface and will in fact make it visible with a naked eye as long as you know where to look!

I'm going to try to find it next time the sky is clear...watch this space!

Phoenix Spacecraft to Mars

This e-mail came out of the blue!

Dear Stephen Macdonald,

Thank you for participating in The Planetary Society's Messages from Earth project!
Your name is now one step closer to Mars. The silica glass mini-DVD with a quarter million names on it -- including yours -- has been installed on the Phoenix spacecraft, and is ready to go to Mars!
The spacecraft has just successfully been flown to Cape Canaveral, and now will begin final testing and preparation for launch. Phoenix will arrive and land in the northern near-polar regions in late May or early June 2008 (exact date dependent upon launch date). We’ll keep you updated on the mission as it progresses towards launch, and of course, update you on its launch and landing.

Sincerely,

Bruce BettsDirector of Project
The Planetary Society

WoW!! I'm going to Mars!

Last year during the window where you could add your name to the spaceship database so I added some names to travel to Mars!

Out of this world!!

Jodrell Bank

On the North West side of Bolton, there lies a hill called Winter Hill. The views from the side of the hill to the South on a clear day are superb! You can see the town of Bolton, the city of Manchester and as far as the Cheshire Plains and even the mountains of North Wales.

When the sun sets, and the telescope is pointing roughly North, the Jodrell Bank Telescope catches the sun and can be seen easily from Winter Hill.Here was the view tonight which shows some of the old mills in Bolton, Trafford Park (an industrial area in Manchester) and the Cheshire Plain where Jodrell Bank is located. Jodrell Bank is about 40 miles away (as the crow flies!)

On the right of the image, just further down and right from Jodrell Bank is a huge mill called Swan Mill. This was once the largest Cotton Mill in the area and it's now a listed building because of it's stunning architecture. Some of the mills that now survive in Bolton are being converted into expensive 5 star apartments. It must be great if you are an astronomer...you could set up an observatory on the roof of a 10 story mill away from the Light Pollution!!

Hope you enjoy the image, taken with my Canon 350D and 200mm zoom lens from Scout Rd.

Earthshine Moon and Venus

The view to the Western Sky at the moment from my back window is superb!

I can see the Moon, Venus, Castor and Pollux along with a setting Saturn. Earlier, I took some images of the Moon and Venus with my Canon 350D and 200mm lens.

The weather today has been awful!

Gale force winds, torrential rain, hail....I even had to watch that (dreadful) cup final!

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0....I fell asleep at half-time!!

Weird how the weather changes so quickly...tonight brought a beautiful sunset...no wind...clear sky...wonderful Moon and Venus!

National Grid for Learning (NGfL)

Well, Tony Blair is moving on to pastures new, but politics apart, his vision of the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) has made quite an impact in schools. Children can now access on-line resources that were unheard of ten years ago via broadband links!

Multimedia is now a way of life for most kids.

Remote telescopes like the Bradford Telescope, JMU (John Moores University) and Faulkes can now be accessed and controlled from the classroom. Hubble images, S@N and NASA Television can be viewed on large screens and Interactive Whiteboards in Primary School classrooms. Children can research for information on the internet and write reports and produce Powerpoint Presentations about their findings.

I wish I had all this when I was at school!

Hand on heart...you got it right!

Technology Rules...OK!

Bank Holiday Blues!

Beehive Cluster with added spikes!

The weather for the last four weeks has been wonderful! Wall to wall sunshine every day, temperatures into the mid 20's. At night the skies have been clear with Venus dominating in the West.
I took out my scopes last week to try out the SLR computerised mount linked to the laptop and 'Starry Night 5' software to control the mount. I was really pleased with the results, got the computer to slew to M5 and there it was for the first time. Tried to image, but made a real mess of focussing the scope. It's quite difficult when switching from the camera to an eyepiece, i'm hoping that the flip mirror will help (when Astro-Engineering and Green Witch decide to send me the adaptor I ordered four weeks ago!)
Captured a nice wide field image of the Beehive Cluster using the ST80 and Canon 350. It's great to have the remote control now for operating the shutter. I don't need to touch the camera at all once set up.

Well, guess what...it's now Bank Holiday and the weather duly changed to wind, rain and cloud just in time! So what's new...never fails does it!!

Venus and Moon Conjunction

Last night I took out my ST80 and SLT computerised mount into the garden where the sky was wonderfully clear. I thought I might try to find and image the Whirlpool Galaxy in Ursa Major (The Plough) and a couple of other Deep Sky Objects. Alas...that was not to be! The SLT mount would not align, probably because I did not input the time correctly to take account of Daylight Saving. I tried alignment four times, the last attempt seemed to lock, but then gave me very inaccurate results when looking for objects. In the end I gave up and went in!

Tonight was cloudy, but I managed to capture the lovely conjunction of Venus and the Moon low in the Western Sky.

Venus is magnificent at the moment, bright enough to cast shadows in a dark room. (Maybe I should try it?)

I have just bought a flip mirror to use with both the webcam and the EOS350, although the EOS 350 fits alright, I still need an adaptor to reduce the T thread to a 1.25" so that I can use the webcam. I've ordered it from 'Green Witch' a company that I have never used before, still waiting for it to arrive...fingers crossed!

Is this Global Warming?

Is it Global Warming?

Is it Climate Change?

Or is it just fantastic weather that coincides with my two week Easter Holiday? (I think so)

Today the temperature reached 75 degrees and wall to wall sunshine for virtually the last two weeks. Apart from a couple of days when it drizzled a bit, the weather has been glorious. The last few days hit temperatures in the the 70's! The grass on the Moors are tinder dry and nights have been clear but hazy, lovely to sit under, but not good to take images.
The Plough is now sitting at azimuth (straight up!) and Orion is disappearing into the Western Sky. Venus is superb! Sitting high in the West and probably the brightest (and highest) i've seen...a lovely sight.

Big Brother in Space

Here I am with Vernon Kay!

Following the 50th Aniversary of Sky at Night it seems that the BBC need to jazz up their production of S@N , bring in a few celebrities and compete with Daytime TV

It seems that the only way these days to get early slots are reality programmes, soaps, auctions, gardening and houses!How about some suggestions:

Sky Force - Nominate someone for Alan and Charlie to come round while you are out to build and set up your dream observatory!

Big Brother in Space - Send Chris Linnott, Brian May John Culshaw, Mylene Klass and Jade to the International Space Station and we all watch it on reality TV with a focus on the cosmos! Sir Patrick could stay on Earth and stand in for Davina McColl!

Cash in the Observatory - Sell your old stuff through a specialist astro auction house to gain cash for a dream astro project!

Constellation Street - Weekly events of life in the cosmos, presented by Kate Ford.

M Farm - Dingles approach to Deep Sky Imaging!

50 years of Sky at Night!

An incredible aniversary when you consider the changes in technology! Started before the launch of Sputnik then through the Space Race years, Moon Landings, Hubble Telescope, International Space Station and Mars Landers it's pretty incredible.

Here is a quote from the BBC:

Sir Patrick Moore has presented the 650th episode of BBC One's astronomy programme The Sky at Night, nearly 50 years after the show first aired.
Sir Patrick presented the first show, when he was asked to do three programmes on astronomy in 1957.
At 83, he is British television's longest serving presenter, and still continues his own astronomy work.

The 50th aniversary programme was a real change from the norm. Featuring Brian May (Queen Guitarist) and Jon Culshaw who played a brilliant part as Sir Patrick 50 years ago! I really enjoyed the light hearted approach to Space and Science shown on the programme so I sent my own views to the S@N forum:

As a Primary School Teacher I would like to congratulate yourself, Sir Patrick, Brian, Jon Culshaw and everyone else involved in last night's programme. To traditional S@N watchers the aniversary programme was 'different' and maybe not as expected, but for young children with an interest in space and astronomy i'm sure that they will love it! It brought to life, in an entertaining way, how technology has progressed over the last 50 years and looked ahead to the next 50 years. This gives younger children something really positive to think about and gives a real stimulus for Science or Writing Projects. OK...the original programme was a bit late for younger children, but I will certainly be showing it to my class who are keen on learning about space. I think that you have produced a super resource that could encourage children to take more interest apart from 'Play Station' virtual space

Well Done Sir Patrick!

Spring at last!

Tonight's Sunset with image taken with my Canon 350D.

Spring at last...today the Sun shone and temperature reached 17 degrees, beautiful day! I even took my children on the field at school to play cricket this afternoon...gorgeous!

On Sunday I went out into the garden with my Skywatcher ST80 and SLT mount. After aligning the GoTo scope I connected my new copy of Starry Night Pro 5 with the RS232 Interface in the hope of getting the software to connect, find and guide objects in Starry Night. I must admit...I was astounded...it worked perfectly! I can point and slew to any Deep Sky Object in the Starry Night database with pinpoint accuracy!

Did a bit of housekeeping work over the weekend, tightened the SLT mount to stop my camera from moving the scope and got the power supply working with the mount. I can now control the telescope from both the handset and the Laptop. I'm not sure whether to add an electronic focus unit to ST80...still working on that one!

Spring Moon!

A lovely image of tonight's Cresent Moon and Earthshine.

The Moon was quite low in the Western sky, so it was difficult to take a picture using my Skywatcher ST80. Instead, I used my Canon 350D DSLR with a 200mm zoom lens fitted. It was a bit hard keeping the image perfectly still, even with a small tripod.

It's the first day of Spring tomorrow! (Spring has sprung?) The weather is bitterly cold, clear and crisp, temperature tonight dropping to -4 degrees! Yesterday it snowed, this happened last year and we had the hottest Summer on record, could this happen again?

Venus and Cresent Moon!

A beautiful sight - Venus and the Cresent Moon low in the Western sky.

The 'Earthshine' which is the part of the Moon not lit by the Sun, but from our Earth, can be seen plainly. I think tonight saw the best Earthshine ever and I wanted to capture this by using my DSLR Camera. It took a bit of patience and experimenting, but managed to take some great images!

This week I invested in a huge 320GB External Hard Drive so that I can store and catalogue my AVI's and Photos. I have astro stuff all over the place, including CD ROMs of early AVI's and particularly those of Mars which can be re-processed using new techniques and software. So I am now working on moving my images onto the new hard drive which can be accessed from both my desktop computer and Laptop.

I have also bought a copy of Starry Night Pro 5 which was on offer from Pulsar Optical. It arrived today so I am hoping that I will be able to control my SLR go-to mount from Starry Night. I think I may have to download some updates, but these should be free...watch this space!

Nice Night!

A wonderful night on the 12th and 13th March. Venus shining brightly and the sky clear. Orion looking spectacular in the Western Sky!

My target on the 12th March was Saturn with my Skywatcher ST80 and Toucam Pro II with IR (Infra-Red) block filter fitted. The image was taken with an Antares 3x Barlow lens, which took quite a while to set up! When the image was processed I used a stacked reference frame. The best 50 frames were stacked in Registax and then used this as a reference to align and stack the rest of the frames. Works really well!

Blood Red Moon!

Here is the latest processed image of the Moon in totality (completely eclipsed in shadow)

A beautiful blood red colour which lasted during the time that the Moon was in shadow.
Again, this was taken with the webcam and ST80 Telescope.
Enjoy!!

Lunar Eclipse with the webcam

The top image shows the beginning of the eclipse, the bottom image shows the Moon in totality.


Captured lots of still images of the lunar eclipse with the DSLR camera, but at the same time I was also capturing AVI's with my webcam fitted to the Skywatcher ST80 with focal reducer. With this I was able to track the moon manually and shoot during cloud breaks.

I spent most of yesterday processing these images using PaintShop Pro and Registax. I'm really pleased with the results!

The lunar eclipse has caused quite a stir, probably because the sky was so clear and gave the best views of a total lunar eclipse for many years. Even the BBC showed it on the news!

Lunar Eclipse

Last night was brilliant, Total Lunar Eclipse probobly the best for years. From about 7.30 to 9.30 the skies were clear and the Moon was full - a wonderfull sight! Took my Canon 350D out to set up the camera and take some images of the full moon, set up the Skywatcher ST80 telescope and Toucam Pro II webcam. Managed to get everything set up and ready for the eclipse.

A lovely night, cold but calm.

As soon as the eclipse started in came the clouds...would you believe it? Well...I managed to take images between the clouds and got some nice results.
When the Moon reached totality the skies cleared and revealed a wonderful sight of the Red Moon!

Certainly worth waiting for!

More with the 350D

Here are some more pictures taken with the Canon EOS 350D. These images of orion were taken with 200mm zoom lens, manual settings and 10 second exposure. The camera was mounted on a small tripod.

I have now sent for an adaptor to fit the camera to a telescope and some more info about using the camera.

New Camera!

Venus at Sunset with the Canon EOS 350D

Guess what? I didn't need much persuading...the Canon EOS 350D is a superb DSLR Camera! So I took the plunge and bought myself a complete kit with 18 - 55mm lens and additional 55 - 200mm zoom lens, 1Gb CF memory card and bag.

Visit to Jessops on Monday gave me chance to find out more and handle the camera, they have a good deal at the moment where the Tamron AF55 - 200m zoom lens comes at half price with the camera, well worthwhile. So after sleeping on it, I returned on Tuesday and bought it!

My first photos trying out the camera are impressive!

On Thursday the skies cleared at sunset so I tried some wide field shots of Venus, Orion and the Moon. Some hand held and others with a small tripod, the results were astounding (to me at least!) I was able to take 10 second exposures of Orion and Pleaides in darkness with just the zoom lens. Wide field shots of star fields are brill!

I'm going to have some fun with this camera.... anyone want to buy my old Pentax MV SLR and a couple of films?